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Date Posted: 22:46:23 04/13/06 Thu
Author: Rennes-le-Château
Subject: Francois-Bérenger Saunière

Francois-Bérenger Saunière (April 11, 1852-January 22, 1917) was priest in the church of the French village of Rennes-le-Château, in the Aude département, from 1885 to 1909. He would be unknown today if not for the fact that he is a central figure in many of the conspiracy theories surrounding Rennes-le-Château. These speculations form the basis of the 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, although few, if any, historians subscribe to them. Later, elements of these theories were used by Dan Brown in his best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.

The allegations concerning Francois-Bérenger Saunière contained in Holy Blood, Holy Grail were based mainly on material found in the Priory Documents and in Gerard de Sede's 1967 book, L'Or de Rennes (English: "The Gold of Rennes", a re-written Pierre Plantard manuscript that failed to find a publisher) - these allegations had already been discredited in France by 1982 when the book was published - notably by Rene Descadeillas in his 1974 book, Mythology of the Treasure of Rennes, the True History of Bérenger Saunière.

The controversy around Saunière centers on two topics: documents he is alleged to have found hidden in his church and his alleged wealth. Supporters of the various conspiracy theories of Rennes-le-Château believe that Saunière found ancient documents relating to a great historical secret while the parish church was being renovated. These theories allege that, through his possession of these documents, Saunière was somehow able to obtain much more wealth than would be expected of a parish priest. What is known is that he was accused of trafficking in masses and resigned his position at Rennes-le-Château. However, there is little evidence that he was particularly wealthy and little historical evidence to back up the extravagant claims, especially since these documents were allegedly "discovered" in a "hollow visigothic pillar" whilst Sauniere was renovating his church. This pillar is on display in the 'Sauniere Museum' in Rennes-le-Chateau and visitors there are told that the "visigothic pillar" was never hollow. Nor can it be estabished that the pillar was actually "visigothic". It was set-up by Sauniere in 1891 as part of his Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes. The claim that it originated from Sauniere's church cannot be substantiated.


Following Sauniere's death in 1917 a mystique developed about the priest's source of wealth. Speculation ranged from trafficking in gold ingots with Spain to finding a treasure and spying for Germany (it became rumoured that he had a cannon in his "Tour Magdala"). There was also a theory that he was paid vast sums of money by the Catholic Church to buy his silence on a secret that would have seriously undermined the church's power: the most extraordinary claim being that he had discovered the grave in which Christ, who had survived crucifixion, was buried. Using this money he built elaborate structures such as a personal library called the 'Tour Magdala' which resembles the Tower of David in Jerusalem, called the 'Migdal David'.

When, in 1946, Noel Corbu purchased the estate that Sauniere had constructed from his housekeeper, Marie Denarnaud, Corbu began stating as fact the rumours of the priest's treasure discovery. He apparently wanted to attract customers to the restaurant that he opened there at Easter, 1955. The story did not take off until January 1956 when a series of articles in the local newspaper publicised Corbu's allegations about Bérenger Saunière.

Saunière's real story seems likely to be one of petty church scandal and political intrigue. Monsignor Billard, the Bishop of Carcassonne up to 1902, amassed over one million francs and was considerably more wealthy than Saunière. Like Saunière, he died while being suspended from his priestly duties, accused of trafficking in masses and involved in financial irregularities. In 1898, Billard put Sauniere's name forward for promotion which was rejected by the Prefet de l'Aude who described Saunière as being a "militant reactionary" (Mgr Billard was an active anti-Republican, and Saunière's activities at Rennes-le-Château coincided with the height of the conflict between Church and State in France between 1885-1905, when the separation between Church and State occurred).

The French Republic, since the French Revolution and the Concordat of 1802, had the power to divest priests of their duties and order bishops what to do. The Minister of Religion Rene Goblet ordered Mgr Billard to suspend Sauniere of his priestly duties during 1885 when Sauniere preached against the Republic during the elections of that year.

Corbu was later to meet a certain Pierre Plantard, who became considerably attracted to the now developing myths surrounding Bérenger Saunière -- and Plantard was to add his own myths with the intention of promoting his phantom association, the Priory of Sion. Pierre Plantard began writing a manuscript and produced "parchments" (created by his friend, Philippe de Cherisey) that Saunière had supposedly discovered whilst renovating his church. These forged documents purportedly showed the survival of the Merovingian line of Frankish kings -- Plantard himself claimed to be descended from Dagobert II. Plantard manipulated Saunière's activities at Rennes-le-Château in order to "prove" his phony claims relating to his imaginary Priory of Sion that he was developing between 1961-1985 (not to be confused with the 1956 Priory of Sion, a different story entirely).

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